Method and System for Attributing Metrics in a CRM System

ABSTRACT

In an embodiment of the present invention, a Response object collects and synchronizes information from other types of objects as may be implemented in a CRM system. For example, certain objects may include a Lead or Contact Object, a Campaign object, and an Opportunity Object that is synchronized into a Response object. In this way, the results for a given Lead or Contact can be directly attributed to the Campaign or Opportunity without having to guess as may be necessary in certain typical CRM systems.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/602,157 filed Sep. 1, 2012, which claims priority to U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/530,216 filed Sep. 1, 2011, U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/635,661 filed Apr. 19, 2012, and U.S.Provisional Application No. 61/635,666 filed Apr. 19, 2012, which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of customerrelationship management (CRM) systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A customer relationship management (CRM) system is generally a system tomanage customer and client relationships, among other things. Appliedproperly, it can help improve the productivity of a sales team.Unfortunately, traditional CRM systems cannot meet all the needs of amodern sales team.

For example, because of the manner in which certain information ishandled, certain information can be lost upon the occurrence of criticalevents. For example, in certain CRM systems when information for aprospective customer (e.g., lead) is converted into an actual customer(e.g., contact) critical information may be lost. For example, onaverage, 25-50% of the time companies using a traditional CRM systemwill convert their leads into contacts. But if a lead is not convertedinto an opportunity, certain CRM systems cannot connect or track revenuecredit to a marketing campaign. This is a significant problem forrevenue attribution to marketing campaigns. For example, in traditionalCRM systems, the results of many leads in a system may not be wellunderstood.

Also, traditional CRM systems do not keep a historical record ofindividual events such as responses to determine their effect on a finaloutcome such as a sale or lost sale. For example, traditional CRMsystems may not provide fully descriptive information about theperformance of a past marketing campaign. Certain CRM systems may onlyprovide the current status of a lead and lose visibility into the statusof the lead during post-campaign follow up, for example.

Traditional CRM systems also may not track whether a response is a newresponse or one from an existing list of responses. This can beimportant information to consider. For example, it may be important toknow if the pool of contacts is fixed or if new prospects are beingreached.

Using conventional CRM systems, it can be difficult to attributecustomer revenue to specific sales and marketing campaigns. For example,conventional CRM systems may seek to attribute revenue by usinginformation related to customer purchases in order to determine whetherone or more campaigns were influential in bringing about a sale. Thisapproach, however, is suffers from certain problems. For example, theinformation that is chosen to be used for attribution can be arbitrarywithout firm foundation as a true indicator of influence. The choseninformation may be based on limited data captured for a specific salesuch that the attribution information is limited. In certainconventional applications, all of a given sale may be attributed toevery campaign to which a customer responded leading to incorrectresults.

A conventional CRM system can record a person's activity or response toa sales or marketing campaign in an object that references the personand the sales or marketing campaign. In many cases, however, only asingle such object is allowed between a given customer and sales ormarketing campaign. In such a situation, additional activities orresponses between a customer and sales or marketing campaign are notrecorded. Alternatively, a response is updated with new information butold response information is lost. A result is that incomplete andinaccurate data is captured for a repeat activity or response to a salesor marketing campaign. For example, where no repeat responses arerecorded, users of a CRM system cannot get an accurate measurement oftheir marketing campaigns or other activities.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, there is a need in the art for a CRM system that can collectinformation that may otherwise not be collected. There is a further needin the art for a CRM system that can collect information that mayotherwise be lost. There is a further need in the art for a CRM systemthat can collect historical information.

Certain embodiments of the present invention can be deployed as anapplication, component, or add-on to a CRM system. For example, CRMsystems typically include interfaces (e.g., Application ProgramInterfaces) for extending the functionality of the CRM system. In thisway, embodiments of the present invention modify or supplement thebehavior of certain CRM systems to extend their functionality asdescribed herein.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a Response object will bedescribed that collects and synchronizes information from other types ofobjects. For example, in an embodiment of the present invention aResponse object will be described as collecting information from aplurality of objects at different points in time. It should be notedthat the Response object is a name used in describing the presentinvention and is not intended to be limiting. Many names can be given tothe functionality of embodiments of the present invention.

In an embodiment, information is synchronized from the various objectsas they would be contained in a CRM system. For example, in anembodiment of the present invention certain objects may include a Leador Contact Object, a Campaign object, and an Opportunity Object that issynchronized into a Response object. In this way, the results for agiven Lead or Contact can be directly attributed to the Campaign orOpportunity without having to guess as may be necessary in certaintypical CRM systems. Embodiments of the present invention provide asynchronization process that normalizes the reporting and sales processacross different objects, including Leads, Contacts, Campaigns, andOpportunities, to allow for a unified reporting on sales performance,revenue attribution, and campaign performance.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, information collectedin the Response object can be used, for example, by marketers or salesmanagers, to understand campaign performance. Moreover, detailedreports, charts, and graphs can be generated from such information usingtools otherwise available from the CRM systems as would be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art.

Another embodiment of the present invention includes methods forattributing revenue to campaign influence. For example, in anembodiment, appropriate information is collected so as to revenue can beattributed to individual customer responses and activities that arerelated to a sale and identified marketing campaigns. Methods accordingto embodiment of the present invention provide for customizing theformulas used to compute revenue attribution to customer responses andactivities. Other embodiments allow for comparing alternativeattribution models. Still other embodiments of the present inventionprovide for customized reports for revenue attribution that allows forconsideration of many types of the information collected.

Another embodiment of the present invention includes methods for keepinga full record of repeat responses. With repeat responses according to anembodiment, reporting and metrics can be obtained for accurateassessment of campaigns or other activities. An embodiment includes amethod for creating cascade campaigns for the purpose of allowing a CRMsystem to capture all of the responses or activities for a givencustomer or campaign. In an embodiment, the cascade campaigns aremaintained in a parent-child relationship with a parent campaign. Suchan approach overcomes the limitation of conventional systems that allowonly a single association between a person and a sales or marketingcampaign.

These and other embodiments can be more fully appreciated upon anunderstanding of the detailed description of the invention as disclosedbelow in conjunction with the attached figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings will be used to more fully describe embodimentsof the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a computer system on which the presentinvention can be implemented.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a networked computer system on which thepresent invention can be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of an environment on whichembodiments of the present invention can be implemented.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example of an environment on whichembodiments of the present invention can be implemented thatillustrates, among other things, alternative interconnections amongsystem elements.

FIGS. 5-15 are flowcharts of methods according to embodiments of thepresent invention for synchronizing objects in a CRM system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Among other things, the present invention relates to methods,techniques, and algorithms that are intended to be implemented indigital computer system 100 such as generally shown in FIG. 1. Such adigital computer or embedded device is well-known in the art and mayinclude the following.

Computer system 100 may include at least one central processing unit 102but may include many processors or processing cores. Computer system 100may further include memory 104 in different forms such as RAM, ROM, harddisk, optical drives, and removable drives that may further includedrive controllers and other hardware. Auxiliary storage 112 may also beinclude that can be similar to memory 104 but may be more remotelyincorporated such as in a distributed computer system with distributedmemory capabilities.

Computer system 100 may further include at least one output device 108such as a display unit, video hardware, or other peripherals (e.g.,printer). At least one input device 106 may also be included in computersystem 100 that may include a pointing device (e.g., mouse), a textinput device (e.g., keyboard), or touch screen.

Communications interfaces 114 also form an important aspect of computersystem 100 especially where computer system 100 is deployed as adistributed computer system. Computer interfaces 114 may include LANnetwork adapters, WAN network adapters, wireless interfaces, Bluetoothinterfaces, modems and other networking interfaces as currentlyavailable and as may be developed in the future.

Computer system 100 may further include other components 116 that may begenerally available components as well as specially developed componentsfor implementation of the present invention. Importantly, computersystem 100 incorporates various data buses 116 that are intended toallow for communication of the various components of computer system100. Data buses 116 include, for example, input/output buses and buscontrollers.

Indeed, the present invention is not limited to computer system 100 asknown at the time of the invention. Instead, the present invention isintended to be deployed in future computer systems with more advancedtechnology that can make use of all aspects of the present invention. Itis expected that computer technology will continue to advance but one ofordinary skill in the art will be able to take the present disclosureand implement the described teachings on the more advanced computers orother digital devices such as mobile telephones or “smart” televisionsas they become available.

Moreover, the present invention may be implemented on one or moredistributed computers. Still further, the present invention may beimplemented in various types of software languages including C, C++, andothers. Also, one of ordinary skill in the art is familiar withcompiling software source code into executable software that may bestored in various forms and in various media (e.g., magnetic, optical,solid state, etc.). One of ordinary skill in the art is familiar withthe use of computers and software languages and, with an understandingof the present disclosure, will be able to implement the presentteachings for use on a wide variety of computers.

The present disclosure provides a detailed explanation of the presentinvention with detailed explanations that allow one of ordinary skill inthe art to implement the present invention into a computerized method.Certain of these and other details are not included in the presentdisclosure so as not to detract from the teachings presented herein butit is understood that one of ordinary skill in the art would be familiarwith such details.

In an embodiment of the invention as shown in FIG. 2, a computer serverthat implements certain of the methods of the invention is remotelysituated from a user. Computer server 202 is communicatively coupled soas to receive information from a user; likewise, computer server 202 iscommunicatively coupled so as to send information to a user. In anembodiment of the invention, the user uses user computing device 204 soas to access computer server 202 via network 206. Network 206 can be theinternet, a local network, a private network, a public network, or anyother appropriate network as may be appropriate to implement theinvention as described herein.

User computing device 204 can be implemented in various forms such asdesktop computer 208, laptop computer 210, smart phone 212, or tabletdevice 214. Other devices that may be developed and are capable of thecomputing actions described herein are also appropriate for use inconjunction with the present invention.

In the present disclosure, computing and other activities will bedescribed as being conducted on either computer server 202 or usercomputing device 204. It should be understood, however, that many if notall of such activities may be reassigned from one to the other devicewhile keeping within the present teachings. For example, for certainsteps computations that may be described as being performed on computerserver 202, a different embodiment may have such computations performedon user computing device 204.

In an embodiment of the invention, computer server 202 is implemented asa web server on which Apache HTTP web server software is run. Computerserver 202 can also be implemented in other manners such as an Oracleweb server (known as Oracle iPlanet Web Server). In an embodimentcomputer server 202 is a UNIX-based machine but can also be implementedin other forms such as a Windows-based machine. Configured as a webserver, computer server 202 is configured to serve web pages overnetwork 206 such as the internet.

In an embodiment, user computing device 204 is configured so as to runweb browser software. For example, where user computing device 204 isimplemented as desktop computer 208 or laptop computer 210, currentlyavailable web browser software includes Internet Explorer, Firefox, andChrome. Other browser software is available for different applicationsof user computing device 204. Still other software is expected to bedeveloped in the future that is able to execute certain steps of thepresent invention.

In an embodiment, user computing device 204, through the use ofappropriate software, queries computer server 202. Responsive to suchquery, computer server 202 provides information so as to display certaingraphics and text on user computing device. In an embodiment, theinformation provided by computer server 202 is in the form of HTML thatcan be interpreted by and properly displayed on user computing device204. Computer server 202 may provide other information that can beinterpreted on user computing device.

FIG. 3 illustrates a block diagram of an environment 310 wherein anon-demand database service might be used. Environment 310 may includeuser systems 312, network 314, system 316, processor system 317,application platform 318, network interface 320, tenant data storage322, system data storage 324, program code 326, and process space 328.In other embodiments, environment 310 may not have all of the componentslisted and/or may have other elements instead of, or in addition to,those listed above.

Environment 310 is an environment in which an on-demand database serviceexists. User system 312 may be any machine or system that is used by auser to access a database user system. For example, any of user systems312 can be a handheld computing device, a mobile phone, a laptopcomputer, a work station, and/or a network of computing devices. Asillustrated in FIG. 3 (and in more detail in FIG. 4) user systems 312might interact via a network 314 with an on-demand database service,which is system 316.

An on-demand database service, such as system 316, is a database systemthat is made available to outside users that do not need to necessarilybe concerned with building and/or maintaining the database system, butinstead may be available for their use when the users need the databasesystem (e.g., on the demand of the users). Some on-demand databaseservices may store information from one or more tenants stored intotables of a common database image to form a multi-tenant database system(MTS). Accordingly, on-demand database service 316 and system 316 willbe used interchangeably herein. A database image may include one or moredatabase objects. A relational database management system (RDMS) or theequivalent may execute storage and retrieval of information against thedatabase object(s). Application platform 318 may be a framework thatallows the applications of system 316 to run, such as the hardwareand/or software, e.g., the operating system. In an embodiment, on-demanddatabase service 316 may include an application platform 318 thatenables creation, managing and executing one or more applicationsdeveloped by the provider of the on-demand database service, usersaccessing the on-demand database service via user systems 312, or thirdparty application developers accessing the on-demand database servicevia user systems 312.

The users of user systems 312 may differ in their respective capacities,and the capacity of a particular user system 312 might be entirelydetermined by permissions (permission levels) for the current user. Forexample, where a salesperson is using a particular user system 312 tointeract with system 316, that user system has the capacities allottedto that salesperson. While an administrator is using that user system tointeract with system 316, that user system has the capacities allottedto that administrator. In systems with a hierarchical role model, usersat one permission level may have access to applications, data, anddatabase information accessible by a lower permission level user, butmay not have access to certain applications, database information, anddata accessible by a user at a higher permission level. Thus, differentusers will have different capabilities with regard to accessing andmodifying application and database information, depending on a user'ssecurity or permission level.

Network 314 is any network or combination of networks of devices thatcommunicate with one another. For example, network 314 can be any one orany combination of a LAN (local area network), WAN (wide area network),telephone network, wireless network, point-to-point network, starnetwork, token ring network, hub network, or other appropriateconfiguration. As the most common type of computer network in currentuse is a TCP/IP (Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol)network, such as the global internetwork of networks, often referred toas the Internet, that network will be used in many of the examplesherein. It should be understood that the networks that the one or moreimplementations might use are not so limited, although TCP/IP is afrequently implemented protocol.

User systems 312 might communicate with system 316 using TCP/IP and, ata higher network level, use other common Internet protocols tocommunicate, such as HTTP, FTP, AFS, WAP, etc. In an example where HTTPis used, user system 312 might include an HTTP client commonly referredto as a browser for sending and receiving HTTP messages to and from anHTTP server at system 316. Such an HTTP server might be implemented asthe sole network interface between system 316 and network 314, but othertechniques might be used as well or instead. In some implementations,the interface between system 316 and network 314 includes load sharingfunctionality, such as round-robin HTTP request distributors to balanceloads and distribute incoming HTTP requests evenly over a plurality ofservers. At least as for the users that are accessing that server, eachof the plurality of servers has access to the MTS' data; otheralternative configurations may be used instead.

In one embodiment, system 316, shown in FIG. 3, implements a web-basedcustomer relationship management (CRM) system that is generally a systemto manage customer and client relationships, among other things. Forexample, in one embodiment, system 316 includes application serversconfigured to implement and execute CRM software applications as well asprovide related data, code, forms, webpages and other information to andfrom user systems 312 and to store to, and retrieve from, a databasesystem related data, objects, and Webpage content. With a multi-tenantsystem, data for multiple tenants may be stored in the same physicaldatabase object, however, tenant data typically is arranged so that dataof one tenant is kept logically separate from that of other tenants sothat one tenant does not have access to another tenant's data, unlesssuch data is expressly shared. In certain embodiments, system 316implements applications other than, or in addition to, a CRMapplication. For example, system 316 may provide tenant access tomultiple hosted (standard and custom) applications, including a CRMapplication. User (or third party developer) applications, which may ormay not include CRM, may be supported by the application platform 318,which manages creation, storage of the applications into one or moredatabase objects and executing of the applications in a virtual machinein the process space of the system 316.

One arrangement for elements of system 316 is shown in FIG. 3, includinga network interface 320, application platform 318, tenant data storage322 for tenant data 323, system data storage 324 for system data 325accessible to system 316 and possibly multiple tenants, program code 326for implementing various functions of system 316, and a process space328 for executing MTS system processes and tenant-specific processes,such as running applications as part of an application hosting service.Additional processes that may execute on system 316 include databaseindexing processes.

Several elements in the system shown in FIG. 3 include conventional,well-known elements that are explained only briefly here. For example,each user system 312 could include a desktop personal computer,workstation, laptop, PDA, cell phone, or any wireless access protocol(WAP) enabled device or any other computing device capable ofinterfacing directly or indirectly to the Internet or other networkconnection. User system 312 typically runs an HTTP client, e.g., abrowsing program, such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser,Netscape's Navigator browser, Opera's browser, or a WAP-enabled browserin the case of a cell phone, PDA or other wireless device, or the like,allowing a user (e.g., subscriber of the multi-tenant database system)of user system 312 to access, process and view information, pages andapplications available to it from system 316 over network 314. Each usersystem 312 also typically includes one or more user interface devices,such as a keyboard, a mouse, trackball, touch pad, touch screen, pen orthe like, for interacting with a graphical user interface (GUI) providedby the browser on a display (e.g., a monitor screen, LCD display, etc.)in conjunction with pages, forms, applications and other informationprovided by system 316 or other systems or servers. For example, theuser interface device can be used to access data and applications hostedby system 316, and to perform searches on stored data, and otherwiseallow a user to interact with various GUI pages that may be presented toa user. As discussed above, embodiments are suitable for use with theInternet, which refers to a specific global internetwork of networks. Itshould be understood that other networks can be used instead of theInternet, such as an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network(VPN), a non-TCP/IP based network, any LAN or WAN or the like.

According to one embodiment, each user system 312 and all of itscomponents are operator configurable using applications, such as abrowser, including computer code run using a central processing unitsuch as an Intel Pentium processor or the like. Similarly, system 316(and additional instances of an MTS, where more than one is present) andall of their components might be operator configurable usingapplication(s) including computer code to run using a central processingunit such as processor system 317, which may include an Intel Pentiumprocessor or the like, and/or multiple processor units. A computerprogram product embodiment includes a machine-readable storage medium(media) having instructions stored thereon/in which can be used toprogram a computer to perform any of the processes of the embodimentsdescribed herein. Computer code for operating and configuring system 316to intercommunicate and to process webpages, applications and other dataand media content as described herein are preferably downloaded andstored on a hard disk, but the entire program code, or portions thereof,may also be stored in any other volatile or non-volatile memory mediumor device as is well known, such as a ROM or RAM, or provided on anymedia capable of storing program code, such as any type of rotatingmedia including floppy disks, optical discs, digital versatile disk(DVD), compact disk (CD), microdrive, and magneto-optical disks, andmagnetic or optical cards, nanosystems (including molecular memory ICs),or any type of media or device suitable for storing instructions and/ordata. Additionally, the entire program code, or portions thereof, may betransmitted and downloaded from a software source over a transmissionmedium, e.g., over the Internet, or from another server, as is wellknown, or transmitted over any other conventional network connection asis well known (e.g., extranet, VPN, LAN, etc.) using any communicationmedium and protocols (e.g., TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS, Ethernet, etc.) as arewell known. It will also be appreciated that computer code forimplementing embodiments can be implemented in any programming languagethat can be executed on a client system and/or server or server systemsuch as, for example, C, C++, HTML, any other markup language, Java™,JavaScript, ActiveX, any other scripting language, such as VBScript, andmany other programming languages as are well known may be used. (Java™is a trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc.).

According to one embodiment, each system 316 is configured to providewebpages, forms, applications, data and media content to user (client)systems 312 to support the access by user systems 312 as tenants ofsystem 316. As such, system 316 provides security mechanisms to keepeach tenant's data separate unless the data is shared. If more than oneMTS is used, they may be located in close proximity to one another(e.g., in a server farm located in a single building or campus), or theymay be distributed at locations remote from one another (e.g., one ormore servers located in city A and one or more servers located in cityB). As used herein, each MTS could include one or more logically and/orphysically connected servers distributed locally or across one or moregeographic locations. Additionally, the term server is meant to includea computer system, including processing hardware and process space(s),and an associated storage system and database application (e.g., OODBMSor RDBMS) as is well known in the art. It should also be understood thatserver system and server are often used interchangeably herein.Similarly, the database object described herein can be implemented assingle databases, a distributed database, a collection of distributeddatabases, a database with redundant online or offline backups or otherredundancies, etc., and might include a distributed database or storagenetwork and associated processing intelligence.

FIG. 4 also illustrates environment 310. In FIG. 4 elements of system316 and various interconnections in an embodiment are furtherillustrated. FIG. 4 shows that user system 312 may include processorsystem 312A, memory system 312B, input system 312C, and output system312D. FIG. 4 shows network 314 and system 316. FIG. 4 also shows thatsystem 316 may include tenant data storage 322, tenant data 323, systemdata storage 324, system data 325, User Interface (UI) 430, ApplicationProgram Interface (API) 432, PL/SOQL 434, save routines 436, applicationsetup mechanism 438, applications servers 400-1 through 400-N, systemprocess space 402, tenant process spaces 404, tenant management processspace 410, tenant storage area 412, user storage 414, and applicationmetadata 416. In other embodiments, environment 310 may not have thesame elements as those listed above and/or may have other elementsinstead of, or in addition to, those listed above.

User system 312, network 314, system 316, tenant data storage 322, andsystem data storage 324 were discussed above in FIG. 3. Regarding usersystem 312, processor system 312A may be any combination of one or moreprocessors. Memory system 312B may be any combination of one or morememory devices, short term, and/or long term memory. Input system 312Cmay be any combination of input devices, such as one or more keyboards,mice, trackballs, scanners, cameras, and/or interfaces to networks.Output system 312D may be any combination of output devices, such as oneor more monitors, printers, and/or interfaces to networks. As shown byFIG. 4, system 316 may include a network interface 320 (of FIG. 3)implemented as a set of HTTP application servers 400, an applicationplatform 318, tenant data storage 322, and system data storage 324. Alsoshown is system process space 402, including individual tenant processspaces 404 and a tenant management process space 410. Each applicationserver 400 may be configured to tenant data storage 322 and the tenantdata 323 therein, and system data storage 324 and the system data 325therein to serve requests of user systems 312. The tenant data 323 mightbe divided into individual tenant storage areas 412, which can be eithera physical arrangement and/or a logical arrangement of data. Within eachtenant storage area 412, user storage 414 and application metadata 416might be similarly allocated for each user. For example, a copy of auser's most recently used (MRU) items might be stored to user storage414. Similarly, a copy of MRU items for an entire organization that is atenant might be stored to tenant storage area 412. A UI 430 provides auser interface and an API 432 provides an application programmerinterface to system 316 resident processes to users and/or developers atuser systems 312. The tenant data and the system data may be stored invarious databases, such as one or more Oracle databases.

Application platform 318 includes an application setup mechanism 438that supports application developers' creation and management ofapplications, which may be saved as metadata into tenant data storage322 by save routines 436 for execution by subscribers as one or moretenant process spaces 404 managed by tenant management process 410 forexample. Invocations to such applications may be coded using PL/SOQL 434that provides a programming language style interface extension to API432. Invocations to applications may be detected by one or more systemprocesses, which manage retrieving application metadata 416 for thesubscriber making the invocation and executing the metadata as anapplication in a virtual machine.

Each application server 400 may be communicably coupled to databasesystems, e.g., having access to system data 325 and tenant data 323, viaa different network connection.

For example, one application server 400-1 might be coupled via thenetwork 314 (e.g., the Internet), another application server 400-N−1might be coupled via a direct network link, and another applicationserver 400-N might be coupled by yet a different network connection.Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) are typicalprotocols for communicating between application servers 400 and thedatabase system. It will be apparent to one skilled in the art thatother transport protocols may be used to optimize the system dependingon the network interconnect used.

In certain embodiments, each application server 400 is configured tohandle requests for any user associated with any organization that is atenant. Because it is desirable to be able to add and remove applicationservers from the server pool at any time for any reason, there ispreferably no server affinity for a user and/or organization to aspecific application server 400. In one embodiment, therefore, aninterface system implementing a load balancing function (e.g., an F5Big-IP load balancer) is communicably coupled between the applicationservers 400 and the user systems 312 to distribute requests to theapplication servers 400. In one embodiment, the load balancer uses aleast connections algorithm to route user requests to the applicationservers 400. Other examples of load balancing algorithms, such as roundrobin and observed response time, also can be used. For example, incertain embodiments, three consecutive requests from the same user couldhit three different application servers 400, and three requests fromdifferent users could hit the same application server 400. In thismanner, system 316 is multi-tenant, wherein system 316 handles storageof, and access to, different objects, data and applications acrossdisparate users and organizations.

As an example of storage, one tenant might be a company that employs asales force where each salesperson uses system 316 to manage their salesprocess. Thus, a user might maintain contact data, leads data, customerfollow-up data, performance data, goals and progress data, etc., allapplicable to that user's personal sales process (e.g., in tenant datastorage 322). In an example of a MTS arrangement, since all of the dataand the applications to access, view, modify, report, transmit,calculate, etc., can be maintained and accessed by a user system havingnothing more than network access, the user can manage his or her salesefforts and cycles from any of many different user systems. For example,if a salesperson is visiting a customer and the customer has Internetaccess in their lobby, the salesperson can obtain critical updates as tothat customer while waiting for the customer to arrive in the lobby.

While each user's data might be separate from other users' dataregardless of the employers of each user, some data might beorganization-wide data shared or accessible by a plurality of users orall of the users for a given organization that is a tenant. Thus, theremight be some data structures managed by system 316 that are allocatedat the tenant level while other data structures might be managed at theuser level. Because an MTS might support multiple tenants includingpossible competitors, the MTS should have security protocols that keepdata, applications, and application use separate. Also, because manytenants may opt for access to an MTS rather than maintain their ownsystem, redundancy, up-time, and backup are additional functions thatmay be implemented in the MTS. In addition to user-specific data andtenant specific data, system 316 might also maintain system level datausable by multiple tenants or other data. Such system level data mightinclude industry reports, news, postings, and the like that are sharableamong tenants.

In certain embodiments, user systems 312 (which may be client systems)communicate with application servers 400 to request and updatesystem-level and tenant-level data from system 316 that may requiresending one or more queries to tenant data storage 322 and/or systemdata storage 324. System 316 (e.g., an application server 400 in system316) automatically generates one or more SQL statements (e.g., one ormore SQL queries) that are designed to access the desired information.System data storage 324 may generate query plans to access the requesteddata from the database.

Each database can generally be viewed as a collection of objects, suchas a set of logical tables, containing data fitted into predefinedcategories. A table is one representation of a data object, and may beused herein to simplify the conceptual description of objects and customobjects. It should be understood that table and object may be usedinterchangeably herein. Each table generally contains one or more datacategories logically arranged as columns or fields in a viewable schema.Each row or record of a table contains an instance of data for eachcategory defined by the fields. For example, a CRM database may includea table that describes a customer with fields for basic contactinformation such as name, address, phone number, fax number, etc.Another table might describe a purchase order, including fields forinformation such as customer, product, sale price, date, etc. In somemulti-tenant database systems, standard entity tables might be providedfor use by all tenants. For CRM database applications, such standardentities might include tables for Account, Contact, Lead, andOpportunity data, each containing pre-defined fields. It should beunderstood that the word entity may also be used interchangeably hereinwith object and table.

In some multi-tenant database systems, tenants may be allowed to createand store custom objects, or they may be allowed to customize standardentities or objects, for example by creating custom fields for standardobjects, including custom index fields. Those of ordinary skill in theart are familiar with systems and methods for creating custom objects aswell as customizing standard objects in a multi-tenant database system.In certain embodiments, for example, all custom entity data rows arestored in a single multi-tenant physical table, which may containmultiple logical tables per organization. It is transparent to customersthat their multiple tables are in fact stored in one large table or thattheir data may be stored in the same table as the data of othercustomers.

Certain embodiments of the present invention can be deployed as anapplication, component, or add-on to a CRM system. For example, CRMsystems typically include interfaces (e.g., Application ProgramInterfaces) for extending the functionality of the CRM system. In thisway, embodiments of the present invention modify or supplement thebehavior of certain CRM systems to extend their functionality asdescribed herein.

In certain embodiments to be described below, reference will be made toobject fields as they may be implemented in certain CRM systems. To beclear, however, the use of the term objects or other terms not intendedto be limiting nor intended to reference certain types of CRM systems.Instead, the description of the present embodiment is intended to beexemplary.

In an embodiment of the present invention, a Response object will bedescribed that collects and synchronizes information from other types ofobjects. For example, in an embodiment of the present invention aResponse object will be described as collecting information from aplurality of objects at different points in time. It should be notedthat the Response object is a name used is describing the presentinvention and is not intended to be limiting. Many names can be given tothe functionality of embodiments of the present invention.

In certain embodiments of the present invention, information collectedin the Response object can be used, for example, by marketers or salesmanagers, to understand campaign performance. Moreover, detailedreports, charts, and graphs can be generated from such information usingtools otherwise available from the CRM systems as would be understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art.

Synchronization in CRM Systems

Shown in FIG. 5 is method 500 for synchronizing a plurality of objects(e.g., Object1 through ObjectN) to a separate object (e.g., Response1object). In an embodiment, information from the various objects, Object1through ObjectN, is captured in a distinct object, such as any one or aplurality of response objects Response1 through ResponseJ. In anembodiment, information is synchronized from the various objects,Object1 through ObjectN, as they would be contained in a CRM system. Forexample, in an embodiment of the present invention certain objects fromObject1 through ObjectN may include a Lead or Contact Object, a Campaignobject, and an Opportunity Object that is synchronized into a Response1object, for example. In this way, the results for a given Lead orContact can be directly attributed to the Campaign or Opportunitywithout having to guess as may be necessary in certain typical CRMsystems. As will be demonstrated below, embodiments of the presentinvention provide a synchronization process that normalizes thereporting and sales process across different objects, including Leads,Contacts, Campaigns, and Opportunities, to allow for a unified reportingon sales performance, revenue attribution, and campaign performance.

It should be noted that the described embodiments are illustrative anddo not limit the present invention. It should further be noted that thesteps of method 500 need not be implemented in the order described.Indeed, certain of the described steps do not depend from each other andcan be interchanged.

As shown in FIG. 5, at step 502 an indication is received that triggerssynchronization according to an embodiment of the invention. Varioustypes of triggers can be implemented in different embodiments of thepresent invention. Shown in FIG. 6, is an example, of a plurality of Ntypes (e.g., Event1 through EventN) of events that can occur at steps602-1 through 602-N, respectively. For example, synchronization canoccur upon the change of a predetermined field. Alternatively,synchronization can occur upon the creation of a predetermined object.Also, synchronization can occur on a predetermined scheduled. Moreover,synchronization can be user initiated. It should be further noted thatthe occurrence of particular events may differentially triggersynchronization of particular sets of data within predetermined objects.Alternatively, the occurrence of other events may triggersynchronization of predetermined data fields within predeterminedobjects. In yet another embodiment, the occurrence of yet other eventsmay trigger synchronization of only those fields where data has changed.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the various response objects,e.g., Response1 through ResponseJ, include an Active/Inactive statusfield. For example, the Active/Inactive status field may indicatewhether one or a plurality of objects from Object1 through ObjectN arein an active state or an inactive state. In an embodiment, an activestate may indicate that the object at issue is in an active sales statesuch that a sale can be made. Alternatively, an inactive state mayindicate that the objet at issue is in an inactive sales state where nosale can likely be made. To be discussed further below are other detailsfor performing synchronization according to embodiments of the presentinvention.

With reference back to FIG. 5, at step 504-1, data from Object1 isidentified as desired to be synchronized. In an embodiment of theinvention, data to be synchronized includes data that has changed froman earlier synchronization. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, data to be synchronized is predetermined. For example,predetermined data can be identified as data that will always besynchronized upon a synchronization event. In yet another embodiment ofthe present invention, data to be synchronized is a predetermined set ofdata that need not have changed. Other examples of data that can besynchronized will be discussed further below.

For example, where an object at issue is a Lead or Contact, informationto be synchronized may include a status field indicating whether activesales engagement is being made with the Lead or Contact. Otherinformation may include a score field indicating a subjective orobjective criteria for the likelihood that the Lead or Contact may leadto a sale. Still other system fields or user defined fields can besynchronized as may be desired by a system administrator or user of thepresent invention.

Further shown, in FIG. 5 are steps 504-2 through 504-N that representsteps similar to 504-1 but which are performed on other objects. Forexample, in a generalized embodiment, data from a plurality of N objectscan be synchronized to a single Response1 or to a plurality of responsesup to ResponseJ. In another embodiment of the present invention, twoobjects (e.g., Object1 and Object2) are synchronized to a singleResponse1. These and other embodiments will be described further below.

At step 506-1, information from at least one of the objects from Object1though ObjectN are updated into a Response1 object. In this way, overthe course of several iterations of method 500, the Response1 object isable to maintain information from a plurality of other objects (e.g.,Object1 through ObjectN) that a traditional CRM system does notmaintain. For example, whereas a traditional CRM system maintainsseparate information for prospective customers and existing customers,such traditional CRM systems do not synchronize and maintain theinformation that is separately generated over time for these differentobjects. The present invention, however, through the synchronizationprocess of method 500 is able to continuously maintain and update dataacross different objects to obtain an improved understanding of customerrelationships and campaigns, for example.

Further shown, in FIG. 5 are steps 506-2 through 506-J that representsteps similar to 506-1 that can be performed by synchronizinginformation from other objects. For example, in a generalizedembodiment, data from a plurality of N objects can be synchronized to asingle Response1 or to a plurality of responses up to ResponseJ. Inanother embodiment of the present invention, two objects (e.g., Object1and Object) are synchronized to a single Response1. These and otherembodiments will be described further below.

Shown in FIG. 7 is an exemplary manner in which data from multipleobjects is synchronized into a Response object. For example as shown,predetermined data from various fields in Object1 702-1 and ObjectX702-X are synchronized into the Response object 708. As shown, FieldObjMdata 704-M is synchronized into FieldRspQ data 710-Q and FieldObjX1 data706-1 is synchronized into FieldRsp2 data 710-2. This synchronization isdone into distinct fields. Note, however, that information fromdifferent objects can be mapped into the same field in the Responseobject such as FieldObj1 data 704-1 from Object 702-1 and FieldObjX2data 706-2 from ObjectX 702-X that are each mapped to FieldRsp1 data710-1 of Response object 708. This may be advantageous when it isexpected that only one item of information from a collection is tochange.

Also shown in FIG. 7 are data fields that are not to be synchronizedsuch as FieldObj2 data 704-2 from Object1 702-1 and FieldObjXP data706-P from ObjectX 702-X. These fields may not be synchronized becausethey may not contain information that changes over time or may notcontain information that is useful for a predetermined goal.

Also shown in FIG. 7 are custom Response fields FieldSyn1 data 712-1through FieldSynR data 712-R that are customized to meet thepredetermined needs or goals of Response object 708. For example, suchfields may be custom fields that are defined by a user and thenpopulated by the user as necessary. For example, a custom field in anobject in a traditional CRM system can be a field that is not a standardfield defined by the CRM system. In certain situations, a custom fieldcan be defined by CRM administrators or as part of a custom applicationor addition to the CRM system such as implemented in an embodiment ofthe present invention.

A particular embodiment will now be described with reference to, amongother things, a Lead Object and a Contact object. In certain CRM systemsa Lead object is generally an object that refers to a prospectivecustomer or contact, among other things. For example, it may containinformation about the prospective customer or information about thenature of the prospective customer along with a reference to anotherobject containing detailed identifying information. For example, a Leadobject may reference a separate object that contains the identifyinginformation for the prospective customer or contact such as the customeraddress and phone number.

In certain CRM systems a Contact is an object that generally refers to acustomer. For example, a Contact object contains identifying informationfor an individual, among other things. It may also contain companyinformation or be associated with company information through otherways. Also, it may reference other objects that contain identifyinginformation such as company information or account information.

Shown in FIG. 8 is a method for synchronizing Lead object andOpportunity object information into a Response object according to anembodiment of the present invention. In an embodiment, a Response objectrepresents a single response, but in another embodiment it can representmultiple responses. A Response object may be a built-in object, or acustom object. In an embodiment of the present invention, a Responseobject is associated with a sales campaign and a Campaign object. Inanother embodiment, a Response object can also be associated with asales opportunity and an Opportunity object.

Among other things, the Response object synchronizes information fromother objects (e.g., Lead object, Contact objects, Campaign objects, orOpportunity objects, among others) responsive to an interaction with theCRM system that can be initiated directly or indirectly by an individualwho is represented by a Lead or a Contact. The interaction may bethrough automated means such as when an individual fills out a form on aweb site or through indirect means such as when an individual calls asalesperson and the information is entered manually into the CRM systemby a salesperson.

Shown in FIG. 8 is method 800 for synchronizing a Lead object and anOpportunity object to a third object, the Response object. It should benoted that the described embodiments are illustrative and do not limitthe present invention. For example, the method of FIG. 8 can beimplemented for Contact objects, Campaign objects, or many other objectsas may be implemented in a CRM system. Indeed, many Response objects canalso be implemented. It should further be noted that the steps of method800 need not be implemented in the order described. Indeed, certain ofthe described steps do not depend from each other and can beinterchanged.

As shown in FIG. 8, at step 802 an indication is received that triggerssynchronization according to an embodiment of the invention. Varioustypes of triggers can be implemented in different embodiments of thepresent invention. Shown in FIG. 9 are examples of various events thatoccur at steps 902-1 through 902-5, respectively, that can trigger asynchronization of data. For example, synchronization can occur upon thecreation of a Response object as shown in step 902-1. For example, wherea CRM system user creates a Response object that is intended to collectinformation from a particular Lead object at step 902-1, step 802 isinitiated to synchronize the Lead object information into a Responseobject.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the response objects, e.g.,Response object of step 806, includes an Active/Inactive status field.For example, the Active/Inactive status field may indicate whether oneor both of the Lead object or Opportunity object of steps 804-1 and804-2, respectively, are in an active state or an inactive state. In anembodiment, an active state may indicate that the object at issue is inan active sales state such that a sale can be made. Alternatively, aninactive state may indicate that the Lead objet at issue is in aninactive sales state where no sale can likely be made.

An Active/Inactive status field can be used, for example, upon thecreation of a response object at step 902-1. For example, if it isdetermined that upon creation of a response object at step 902-1, thatthe Lead at issue is in an inactive state, a synchronization may beperformed but the status of the Response object may be set to a stateindicating that no further synchronizations may be necessary. Forexample, the status may indicate that the opportunity is resolved and nofurther action is required. Alternatively, the status may indicate thatthe opportunity is resolved because the Lead, for example, is alreadyengaged for a separate opportunity. In this situation, only certainpredetermined fields may be synchronized.

In another embodiment, if it is determined that upon creation of aresponse object at step 902-1, the Lead at issue is in an active state,a synchronization may be performed and the status of the Response objectmay be set to a state indicating that further synchronizations may benecessary. For example, the status may indicate that the opportunity isnot resolved and certain fields may continue to be synchronized such asa score and other system- or user-specified fields.

In another embodiment, synchronization is triggered upon updating apredetermined field at step 902-2. For example, where a response such asa telephone call is received from a lead or contact, synchronizationstep 802 is triggered. In yet another embodiment, a user can provide acommand at step 902-3 to initiate synchronization step 802.

In still another embodiment, when an opportunity with the lead isinitiated an Opportunity object is created at step 902-4 andsynchronization step 802 is initiated to collect information from theLead object at step 804-1 and the Opportunity object at step 804-2. AnActive/Inactive status field can be used, for example, upon the creationof an opportunity object at step 902-4. For example, if it is determinedthat upon creation of an opportunity object at step 902-4, that the Leadat issue is in an inactive state, a synchronization may be performed butthe status of the Response object may be set to a state indicating thatno further synchronizations may be necessary. For example, the statusmay indicate that the opportunity is resolved and no further action isrequired. Alternatively, the status may indicate that the opportunity isresolved because the Lead, for example, is already engaged for aseparate opportunity. In this situation, only certain predeterminedfields may be synchronized.

In another embodiment, if it is determined that upon creation of anOpportunity object at step 902-4, the Lead at issue is in an activestate, a synchronization may be performed and the status of the Responseobject may be set to a state indicating that further synchronizationsmay be necessary. For example, the status may indicate that theopportunity is not resolved and certain fields may continue to besynchronized such as a score and other system- or user-specified fields.

In still another embodiment, synchronization step 802 is initiated uponthe closing of an opportunity as may be indicated in an Opportunityobject. For example, where a sale is made and an opportunity is closedat step 902-5, synchronization is initiated at step 802 to collect allthe then-existing information in the Lead object at step 804-1 and theOpportunity object at step 804-2 into the Response object at step 806.In such a situation it may further be advantageous to purge or clearcertain data that may become stale after an opportunity is closed. Forexample, if a contact was identified as having a budget for a purchase,upon closing the opportunity it may be advantageous to purge such databecause it may later not be relevant. In another embodiment, a timelinethat may be kept for either the Lead object or the Opportunity objectmay also be cleared upon closing of the opportunity at step 902-5.

The triggering events of FIG. 9 are only exemplary. In otherembodiments, the occurrence of still other events may triggersynchronization.

With reference back to FIG. 8, at step 804-1, the Lead object data isidentified as desired to be synchronized. In an embodiment of theinvention, data to be synchronized includes data that has changed froman earlier synchronization. In another embodiment of the presentinvention, data to be synchronized is predetermined. For example,predetermined data can be identified as data that will always besynchronized upon a synchronization event. In yet another embodiment ofthe present invention, data to be synchronized is a predetermined set ofdata that need not have changed. Other examples of data that can besynchronized will be discussed further below.

At step 804-2, the Opportunity object data is identified as desired tobe synchronized. In an embodiment of the invention, data to besynchronized includes data that has changed from an earliersynchronization. In another embodiment of the present invention, data tobe synchronized is predetermined. For example, predetermined data can beidentified as data that will always be synchronized upon asynchronization event. In yet another embodiment of the presentinvention, data to be synchronized is a predetermined set of data thatneed not have changed. Other examples of data that can be synchronizedwill be discussed further below.

At step 806, information from at least one of the Lead object or theOpportunity object is updated into the Response object. In this way,over the course of several iterations of method 800, the Response objectis able to maintain information from the Lead object and the Opportunityobject that a traditional CRM system does not maintain. For example,whereas a traditional CRM system maintains separate information forprospective customers (e.g., leads) and opportunities, such traditionalCRM systems do not synchronize and maintain the information that isseparately generated over time for these different objects. The presentinvention, however, through the synchronization process of method 800 isable to continuously maintain and update data across different objectsto obtain an improved understanding of customer relationships andcampaigns, for example. It should be noted that, in an embodiment,multiple Response objects may exist for the same Lead (or Contact)objects.

Shown in FIG. 10 is an exemplary manner in which data from multipleobjects is synchronized into a Response object. For example as shown,predetermined data from Lead Object 1002-1 and Opportunity Object 1002-2are synchronized into Response object 1008. As shown, Score data 1004-1is synchronized into Score data 1010-1 and OppName data 1006-1 issynchronized into FieldRsp2 data 1010-2. This synchronization is doneinto distinct fields. Note, however, that information from differentobjects can be mapped into the same field in the Response object.

Not all fields from Lead Object 1002-1 or Opportunity object 1004-1 needto be synchronized depending for every embodiment. For example, fieldsmay not be synchronized because they may not contain information thatchanges over time or may not contain information that is useful for apredetermined goal.

Also shown in FIG. 10 are custom Response field ActInact 1012-1 can beimplemented as the Active/Inactive status field described above withreference to FIG. 9. Moreover, Campaign 1012-2 can be implemented toassociate a lead or opportunity with a marketing campaign. Still othercustom Response fields can be implemented to meet the needs of otherembodiments of the present invention as would be understood by those ofordinary skill in the art. For example, such fields may be custom fieldsthat are defined by a user and then populated by the user as necessary.For example, a custom field in an object in a traditional CRM system canbe a field that is not a standard field defined by the CRM system. Incertain situations, a custom field can be defined by CRM administratorsor as part of a custom application or addition to the CRM system such asimplemented in an embodiment of the present invention.

Revenue Influence in CRM Systems

Another embodiment of the present invention includes methods forattributing certain results or metrics to certain effects usinghistorical information. For example, an embodiment of the presentinvention includes methods for attributing metrics such as revenue toindividual campaigns including sales or marketing campaigns usingcustomer activity history.

A foundation of this embodiment of the present invention is the mannerin which various types of objects are related. In an embodiment,relationships refer to the manner in which various object types mayinteract with each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 11, informationfrom Object Type 1102 is related to Object Types 1104, 1106, and 1108but not directly Object Type 1110. Instead, Object Types 1104, 1106, and1108 are related to Response Objects 1106 through 1110. Also, ResponseObjects 1106 through 1110 are related to Object Type 1112. In anembodiment of the present invention Response Objects such as ResponseObjects 1106 through 1110 are used to collect information (e.g.,responses) from Object Types 1104, 1106, and 1108. Such responseinformation is then used to analyze certain aspects of Object Type 1102and or 1112. Indeed, many types of relationships are possible. Thedescription of FIG. 11 is intended to be general and applicable to manytypes of applications. One of ordinary skill in the art will understandthat many variations are possible while keeping within the teachings ofthe present invention.

For purposes of clarity, however, without limiting the breadth of thepresent invention, a specific embodiment will be described as shown inFIG. 12. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that thespecific embodiment of FIG. 12 is readily extended to more generalizedcases.

Shown in FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating the relationships ofvarious object types according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. For example, the following object types are shown: Account1202, Lead 1204, Contact 1206, Opportunity 1208, and Campaign 1214. Alsoshown are Response Objects 1206 through 1208 that are related to Lead1204, Contact 1206, and Opportunity 1208 as well as Campaign 1212. In anembodiment of the present invention Response Objects 1206 through 1208are used to collect information (e.g., responses) from Lead 1204,Contact 1206, and Opportunity 1208. Also, Response Objects 1206 through1208 are related to Campaign 1212 and are used to provide information toCampaign 1212 through such relationship. For example, responseinformation can be used to analyze certain aspects of Lead 1204, Contact1206, and Opportunity 1208. Indeed, because many types of relationshipsare possible, many types of responses and analyses are also possible.The description of FIG. 12 is intended to inform more general aspects ofthe present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art will understandthat many variations are possible while keeping within the teachings ofthe present invention.

Although various object types are shown with specific names, the presentinvention is not limited to only those object types shown. Indeed, oneof ordinary skill understands that there exist different CRM systemsthat can implement a wide variety of object types which are applicableto embodiments of the present invention.

The various connections among the various object types is generallyintended to illustrate certain of the relationships that may exist amongthe various object types. For example, as shown, an Account 1202 may berelated to Lead 1206, and 1208. In an embodiment,

Indeed, an account may be related to various instances of these or othertypes of objects. As further shown in FIG. 12, Responses 1206 through1208 can be related to Contact 1206 and Lead 1204. Indeed, manyResponses (note indexing) can be related to Contact 1206 and Lead 1204as well as other objects. Moreover, multiple responses as disclosed inanother embodiment of the present invention described below can berelated to one or several objects including those types of objects shownin FIG. 12.

As further shown in FIG. 12, the various response information (e.g.,Responses 1206 through 1208) are related to Campaign 1212. This can bean important relationship because it can provide historical informationfor determining the effectiveness of a campaign as will be described foran embodiment. Such information can allow for properly attributingrevenue or sales to identified and collected activities includingcustomer activity history such as may be collected in Responses 1206through 1208.

Shown in FIG. 13 is a method 1300 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention for attribution to responses. It should be noted thatthe described embodiments are illustrative and do not limit the presentinvention. It should further be noted that the steps of method 1300 neednot be implemented in the order described. Indeed, certain of thedescribed steps do not depend from each other and can be interchanged.

As shown in FIG. 13, Opportunity information is provided as input atstep 1302. Opportunity information may include information such ascontained in one or more opportunity objects. It should be noted,however, that opportunity information can reside in other object types.For the input Opportunity, related Lead and Contacts are determined atstep 1304. For such Leads and Contacts, related Response information isidentified at step 1306. In an embodiment, related Response informationis contained in Response objects. At step 1308, Response information isused along with opportunity information from step 1302 to computeattributions at step 1310.

In an embodiment, steps 1302, 1304, 1306, and 1308 are performed foreach identified opportunity for which attribution or campaign influenceinformation is desired. For example, such steps are executed for aplurality of Opportunity objects as may be contained within a CRMsystem.

In an embodiment step 1310 is performed in a plug-in to the CRM system.Such a plug-in is implemented within a CRM system as known to those ofordinary skill in the art. In an embodiment, an attribution modelplug-in includes algorithms for computing a revenue model. For example,an attribution model plug-in includes algorithms for implementing amodel for attributing revenue to Campaigns and Opportunities usingcustomer activity history such as recorded in Response or other objects.More generally, however, embodiments of the present invention implementattribution models so as to attribute a result (e.g., sales or revenue)to effects or activities (e.g., responses).

Different attribution values may be stored during method 1300 todistinguish between, for example, revenue from closed sales, revenuefrom open sales, and revenue from lost sales. The revenue figures thatare captured may be a value that is representative of the revenue. Forexample, attribution model plug-in 1308 may store a calculated score orpercentage as an alternative to a revenue figure.

As further shown in FIG. 13, at step 1310 metrics that are computed inthe attribution model are transferred to the appropriate correspondingResponses according to relationships such as shown in FIG. 12. Forexample, in an embodiment attribution results that use Opportunity andResponse information, among other things, are used to update the relatedResponse objects at step 1312. Using such attribution information, atstep 1314 metrics such as revenue are computed for the Campaigns relatedto the identified Responses. In an embodiment, the relevant responsesare those response objects for which revenue attribution information hasbeen determined.

Step 1314 can be implemented in various ways. For example, in anembodiment, certain predetermined information within a Campaign objectis first cleared before populating the Campaign object with revenueand/or attribution values from the associated Responses. In anotherembodiment, revenue attribution information for each Campaign is storedin a separate associated object. In still another embodiment, revenueinformation is stored in the Response objects and the revenue for eachCampaign is generated dynamically through a reporting system. Such areporting system can be implemented with a plug-in to the CRM system.

In collecting and generating information for attributing certain metricsincluding revenue, embodiments of the present invention can be used togenerate useful reports. For example, campaign influence reports can begenerated that describe revenue attributed to a campaign. Alternatively,reports can be generated that describe pipeline (e.g., expected) revenuethat is attributable to a campaign. Also, lost revenue can be attributedto a campaign.

Because attribution is stored with response history in an embodiment,campaign interaction reports can be generated to see the impact ofmultiple campaigns on revenue. For example, for those customers thatresponded to multiple campaigns, information can be obtained aboutwhether the order of the campaign response influenced revenue. Becauseattribution is stored with response history in an embodiment, it ispossible to see the impact of the timing of a campaign within a salescycle. For example, information can be obtained about which campaignsare more effective early in the sales cycle and which are more effectivelater. Because attribution includes lost as well as won revenue in anembodiment, it is possible to determine whether particular salescampaigns may be discouraging purchases and leading to a loss ofrevenue.

Because attribution is stored with response history in an embodiment, itis possible to generate reports of attribution by date. This allowsidentification of campaigns that work quickly and those that work moreslowly. This information can allow a marketer to make informed decisionsabout campaigns with short lifetimes, while allowing effective but slowmoving campaigns to continue running.

Because multiple attribution models can be supported, embodiments of thepresent invention allow for comparing reports based on differentattribution models. This can allow for refinement of attribution modelsbased on real-world results.

Repeat Responses in CRM Systems

To be described now is an embodiment of the present invention forcapturing repeated responses or activities in a CRM system. For example,an embodiment of the present invention includes a method for capturingrepeated customer activities in a CRM system.

Shown in FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating the relationships ofvarious object types according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. For example, the following object types are shown: Customer1402, Response 1404 (multiple instances), and Campaign 1406. Note thatCustomer 1402 may also be a prospective customer. Also shown in FIG. 14are multiple instances of Cascade Campaign 1408. Whereas a conventionalCRM system may include Customer 1402 and Campaign 1406, conventional CRMsystems do not include multiple instances of Response 1404 or multipleinstances of Cascade Campaign 1408.

The description of FIG. 14 is intended to inform more general aspects ofthe present invention. One of ordinary skill in the art will understandthat many variations are possible while keeping within the teachings ofthe present invention. Although various object types are shown withspecific names, the present invention is not limited to only thoseobject types shown. Indeed, one of ordinary skill understands that thereexist different CRM systems that can implement a wide variety of objecttypes which are applicable to embodiments of the present invention.

The various connections among the various object types is generallyintended to illustrate certain of the relationships that may exist amongthe various object types. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, Customer1402 may be related to Response 1404 and, in turn, Campaign 1406. Also,Customer 1402 may be related to Response 1404 (multiple instances) whichare related to Cascade Campaign 1408 which are, in turn, related toCampaign 1406. In an embodiment Response 1404 includes responses of acustomer for a given Campaign 1406 (e.g., sales or marketing campaign).In an embodiment, Campaign 1406 is said to be the parent Campaign toCascade Campaigns 1408. In an embodiment, Campaign 1406 represents asales or marketing campaign and its associated information. In anembodiment, Cascade Campaign 1408 is a campaign object that referencesparent Campaign 1406.

Shown in FIG. 15 is a method 1500 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention for capturing repeated customer activities orresponses in a CRM system. It should be noted that the describedembodiments are illustrative and do not limit the present invention. Itshould further be noted that the steps of method 1500 need not beimplemented in the order described. Indeed, certain of the describedsteps do not depend from each other and can be interchanged.

Method 1300 begins with receipt of customer activity at step 1502. In anembodiment, customer activity can be prospect or customer activity orresponses whether caused directly due to a customer action, initiated bya sales organization, or entered manually or automatically from anothersource. Where the received customer activity is a first response for acampaign, such response results in the creation of a first Responseobject at step 1504 (see Response object 1404-1 of FIG. 14) andassociating such first response to a Campaign at step 1506 (see Campaign1406 of FIG. 14). In an embodiment, a test is performed to check whetherthe received customer activity at step 1502 is a first response.

An embodiment of the present invention is able to handle furtherresponses by implementing steps 1508 through 1514. For example, wherefurther customer activity is received at step 1508, a new Responseobject is created at step 1510 (see Response objects 1404-2 through1404-J of FIG. 14) which is associated with a new Cascade Campaign atstep 1512 (see Cascade Campaign 1408-2 through 1408-J of FIG. 14). Suchnew Cascade Campaign is also associated with the first Campaign at step1514 (see dotted line connections from Cascade Campaigns 1408 toCampaign 1406 in FIG. 14). Steps 1508 through 1514 can be repeated manytimes so as to capture multiple customer responses.

In an embodiment of the present invention, received customer activity atstep 1508 is tested according to a time out test. For example, it can bedesirable to test the time between the activity of step 1508 with animmediately prior activity. In an embodiment where a time betweenactivities is below a predetermined threshold, the new activity isignored. This can be desirable so as to avoid recording the sameactivity multiple times. For example, a customer that downloads abrochure multiple times within a short timeframe is not necessarilyperforming a distinct activity. In this embodiment, only responses thatexceed the predetermined threshold are considered valid repeatresponses.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a test is performedprior to step 1510 to determine whether repeat responses are allowed.Where multiple responses are not allowed steps 1510 through 1514 are notperformed. In another embodiment of the present invention, a test isperformed prior to step 1512 to determine whether Cascade Campaigns areallowed. Where Cascade Campaigns are not allowed steps 1512 and 1514 arenot performed. In an embodiment, where multiple responses are notallowed or where Cascade Campaigns are not allowed, a message isdisplayed to a user.

In another embodiment of the present invention, tests are performed toassure the integrity of the response and campaign information. Forexample, in an embodiment, a system query is performed for all cascadecampaigns for a campaign for which a response is to be associated. Insuch an embodiment, each cascade campaign for a parent campaign istested to determine whether it defines an association with a currentcustomer. If a cascade campaign is found that does not define such anassociation, a response object is created or modified to associate thecurrent customer with such cascade campaign. In this manner the repeatresponse is stored in the CRM system.

In an embodiment, the performance of method 1500 of FIG. 15 allows forthe creation of the various objects and relationships of the blockdiagram of FIG. 14. With the relationships of FIG. 14, a CRM system cancapture data for repeat responses that is not possible in conventionalCRM implementations. The repeat response information can be used formany purposes including for reporting results or performing dataanalysis.

The repeat response data captured through the use of embodiments of thepresent invention can be used to improve the accuracy of many types ofreports. For example, reports that generate statistical or detailedinformation based on total number of responses can now include multipleresponses. Likewise, reports that measure the effectiveness ofindividual campaigns can now incorporate more complete information frommultiple responses. Campaign influence or attribution analytics in whichthe number of responses is a component of the algorithm or formula canalso be improved using embodiments of the present invention.

Also, analytic reports or tools that are based on the sequence ofcustomer actions or responses can make use of the more comprehensiveinformation made available through embodiments of the present invention.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention enable the developmentand refinement of customer response systems in which the response isinfluenced by repeated customer responses. For example, when a customerdownloads a document a second time, an embodiment of the presentinvention may be able to indicate that the customer has a particularinterest in the subject matter of the downloaded document that is worthyof follow-up by a sales team.

Various embodiments of the present invention have been described. Itshould be noted that the present invention is not limited to thedescribed embodiments. Indeed, several of the described embodimentscould be combined to provide further combined functionality. Also, itshould be noted that the present invention can be modified in ways knownto those of ordinary skill in the art without deviating from the presentinvention. For example, the present invention can be implemented instand-alone CRM systems intended for individual users but can also beimplemented in a networked environment.

One embodiment of the present invention may be implemented as a programproduct for use with a computer system. The program(s) of the programproduct define functions of the embodiments (including the methodsdescribed herein) and can be contained on a variety of computer-readablestorage media. Illustrative computer-readable storage media include, butare not limited to: (i) non-writable storage media (e.g., read-onlymemory devices within a computer such as CD-ROM disks readable by aCD-ROM drive, flash memory, ROM chips or any type of solid-statenon-volatile semiconductor memory) on which information is permanentlystored; and (ii) writable storage media (e.g., floppy disks within adiskette drive or hard-disk drive or any type of solid-staterandom-access semiconductor memory) on which alterable information isstored.

As persons skilled in the art will appreciate, the implementations andexamples described herein in no way limit the scope of the presentinvention. While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the presentinvention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devisedwithout departing from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof isdetermined by the claims that follow.

1. A computer-implemented method for attributing metric information,comprising: receiving, by at least one computer, opportunityinformation; determining, by the at least one computer, at least a firstset of objects related to the opportunity information, wherein the firstset of objects include objects of a first type; identifying, by the atleast one computer, at least one set of objects of a second type,distinct from the first type, related to the first set of objects,wherein the at least one set of objects of the second type includeresponse information that has been periodically synchronized with thefirst set of objects, and wherein the response information issynchronized based on receiving a trigger signal that is responsive toat least one event from a set of events including creating at least oneobject of the second type from the at least one set of objects of thesecond type; using the opportunity information and the responseinformation to compute metric attributions.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the metric information is revenue information.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first set of objects is at least one lead object.4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of objects is at leastone contact object.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the responseinformation is a plurality of response information.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising adding attribution information to theresponse information.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprisingcontributing attributions for a first effect object by the at least onecomputer.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first effect object is acampaign.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the campaign is a sales ormarketing campaign.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the metricattributions are revenue attributions.
 11. A non-transitorycomputer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by aprocessing unit, cause the processing unit to implement a method forattributing metric information, by performing the steps of: receivingopportunity information; determining at least a first set of objectsrelated to the opportunity information, wherein the first set of objectsinclude objects of a first type; identifying at least one set of objectsof a second type, distinct from the first type, related to the first setof objects, wherein the at least one set of objects of the second typeinclude response information that has been periodically synchronizedwith the first set of objects, and wherein the response information issynchronized based on receiving a trigger signal that is responsive toat least one event from a set of events including creating at least oneobject of the second type from the at least one set of objects of thesecond type; using the opportunity information and the responseinformation to compute metric attributions.
 12. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the metric information isrevenue information.
 13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 11, wherein the first set of objects is at least one lead object.14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein thefirst set of objects is at least one contact object.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein theresponse information is a plurality of response information.
 16. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprisingadding attribution information to the response information.
 17. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprisingcontributing attributions for a first effect object.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the firsteffect object is a campaign.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 18, wherein the campaign is a sales or marketingcampaign.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11,wherein the metric attributions are revenue attributions.
 21. Acomputing device comprising: a data bus; a memory unit coupled to thedata bus; at least one processing unit coupled to the data bus andconfigured to receive opportunity information; determine at least afirst set of objects related to the opportunity information, wherein thefirst set of objects include objects of a first type; identify at leastone set of objects of a second type, distinct from the first type,related to the first set of objects, wherein the at least one set ofobjects of the second type include response information that has beenperiodically synchronized with the first set of objects, and wherein theresponse information is synchronized based on receiving a trigger signalthat is responsive to at least one event from a set of events includingcreating at least one object of the second type from the at least oneset of objects of the second type; use the opportunity information andthe response information to compute metric attributions.